Images, symbols and colours dedicated to Dante’s Verona, the 700th anniversary of whose death falls in 2021. Dante, having fled his native Florence, found refuge within the walls of Verona itself, welcomed with open arms by this unique city and by the Scaligeri family, who ruled it for over a century. This will be the central theme running through the entire journey that will lead to the unveiling of the Verona team’s new match kits.

Starting with the ‘Home’ kit – the first shirt, the one most often worn at home. And nothing represents home better, for the people of Verona, than the Arche Scaligere, a splendid mausoleum right in the heart of the historic centre that enshrines not only the city’s history but also its most famous symbol: that of the Della Scala family. It was Cangrande Della Scala himself who welcomed Dante within Verona’s walls for at least seven years between 1312 and 1318: the very period during which *Paradiso* was composed.

For all these reasons, Hellas Verona FC and Macron, the club’s technical partner, have decided to pay tribute to the city, its Signoria and the figure of Dante Alighieri by designing the new kits for the 2021/22 season.

Canto XVII of *Paradiso* provided the creative inspiration for the most important details of the new ‘Home’ kit.

The new ‘Home’ shirt is a blue crew-neck knitted shirt. The raglan sleeves are yellow with blue trim. The back of the neck is personalised with an image of Dante and the two dates 1321–2021 on a blue background. The distinctive graphic feature of Hellas Verona’s home shirt is the embossed design, on both the front and back, which echoes the detail of the gate of the Arche Scaligere (the mausoleum of the Scaliger family). On the right side of the chest, the Macron Hero – the Italian brand’s logo – is embroidered in yellow; on the left, over the heart, are the Mastini, the Hellas Verona logo. The word ‘VERONA’ is embroidered in a tone-on-tone design on the back of the neck. On the back, on the inside hem of the shirt, the phrase ‘ch’in te avrà sì benigno riguardo’ – taken from Canto XVII of *Paradiso* – is hot-stamped.